Whelp, I done did it. After nearly losing my patience (and sanity) with combing the backwaters of Craigslist, all while debating “lunchbox or stationary?” I came across a promising ad for a planer a just over 100 miles away. Seemed to do just dandy on the test board that was run through it and all the parts that are supposed to move do so freely and smoothly – no rattles or bumps. The arrow for the thickness indicator needs to be replaced and I’ll have to find/make a knife setting jig eventually, but everything under the hood (3hp motor, belts, pulleys, rollers, etc) seems pretty solid. Price was $250 and a half a tank of gas for the round trip.

(in/outfeed tables were taken off for transport)

My understanding is that this is the same, or very similar to, the Woodmaster 612; I’ll have to find a manual and go through it and then make any adjustments necessary – any advice to a n00b is welcome. In any event, I’m glad to be done looking and happy to have a major piece of my budding shop in place.

Hawk should have pretty good customer service. If not I can answer most questions about the machine since I’ve had one since they came out under RBI, and for whom I sold the machines. It has seen lots of trouble free mileage.

Take good care of the feed rollers and keep the bed waxed with a good quality slippery wax. Crank the bed all the way down and be careful of the knives. Clean the rollers with mineral spirits, kerosene, and I’ve used isopropyl alcohol. Their knife setting gauge is a must. I wish there was an easier way to reliably set the knives because it gets tedious when they move about as you tighten the gib. I’ve considered ways to temporarily secure the knives in place while the gibs are tightened, but nothing I’ve tried works reliably yet.DanK